Print from specific paper tray

[andersostling]

We have a problem that we need to solve before going all-in on vDOS for a customer. Most printing tasks work excellent, but one thing remain to be solved. Not easy to explain, but I will try my best.

A legacy DOS application have two defined printers, lets call them White and Yellow. White prints on standard A4 paper, and Yellow is also A4 but is supposed to pick paper from another tray. The printers are using two control files with a lot of escape codes that sets printing style. White works fine with all tasks.

With NTVDM and shared windows printing via assigned LPT1 (on 32-bits Windows 10)

White and Yellow prints on the correct paper sources.

With vDOS (on 64 bit Windows 10)

When we select a printjob that is supposed to use the yellow papers, we still get printout from the standard white paper tray.

The printer command in config.txt is LPT1 = SEL:"" TIO:3 HORZ:0 VERT:0 FONT:"Consolas"

The control file LASER#3 (for Yellow printing) has this content. Comparing these two, I cant find any escape code that selects paper tray. Is there any other way to catch and analyze the output when choosing a Yellow printout? 

" 27 69 27 27 38 108 50 54 65 27 38 108 48 49 69 27 38 108 53 72","RESET A4 toppmarginal"

" 27 40 115 53 72 27 40 115 51 66"," 5 CPI+ FETSTIL "

" 27 40 115 49 48 72 27 40 115 48 66 27 40 115 51 84","èTER 10 CPI NORMAL COURIER "

" 27 40 115 49 83"," ITALIC                 "

" 27 40 115 48 83"," END ITALIC        "

" 27 38 100 49 68"," UNDERSCORE        "

" 27 38 100 64"," END UNDERSCORE"

" 27 40 115 51 66"," bold "

" 27 40 115 48 66"," normal "

" 27 40 115 49 50 72 27 40 115 54 66 27 40 115 54 84","12 CPI 96 chars line extra black"

" 27 40 115 54 84 27 38 108 52 68"," letter Gothic 4 rader/tum"

" 27 40 115 49 48 72"," 10 CPI"

" 27 38 108 49 79 27 40 115 49 50 72 27 40 115 54 84","LANDSCAPE 12 CPI 96 chars line LETTER GOTIC"

" 10"," LINEFEED"

" 27 42 114 45 52 85 27 42 118 49 83","Black"

" 27 42 114 45 52 85 27 42 118 49 83","Black"

" 27 38 108 54 68"," 6 lines per inch "

Control file for White A4

" 27 69 27 38 108 50 54 65 27 38 108 48 49 69 27 38 108 49 72","RESET A4 toppmarginal"

" 27 40 115 53 72 27 40 115 51 66"," 5 CPI+ FETSTIL "

" 27 40 115 49 48 72 27 40 115 48 66 27 40 115 51 84","èTER 10 CPI NORMAL COURIER "

" 27 40 115 49 83"," KURSIV "

" 27 40 115 48 83"," AVBRYTER KURSIV "

" 27 38 100 49 68"," UNDERSTRYCKNING "

" 27 38 100 64"," AVBRYTER UNDERSTRYCKNING"

" 27 40 115 51 66"," bold "

" 27 40 115 48 66"," normal "

" 27 40 115 49 50 72 27 40 115 54 66 27 40 115 54 84","12 CPI 96 tecken pÜ linje extra svart"

" 27 40 115 54 84 27 38 108 52 68"," letter Gothic 4 rader/tum"

" 27 40 115 49 48 72"," 10 CPI"

" 27 38 108 49 79 27 40 115 49 50 72 27 40 115 54 84","LIGGANDE 12 CPI 96 tecken pÜ linje LETTER GOTIC"

" 10"," RADMATNING"

" 27 42 114 45 52 85 27 42 118 49 83","svart"

" 27 42 114 45 52 85 27 42 118 49 83","svart"

" 27 38 108 54 68"," 6 rader per tum "

[Jos]

Before vDos starts the printing process, it creates two additional files: #LPT1.asc and #LPT1.txt (given you didn’t use the PRIVATE option). The #LPT1.asc file contains the ASCII data stream sent by the program. The command sequences for selecting the output tray are: 27 38 108 53 72 (tray 3), 27 38 108 49 72 (tray 2).

You basically have two options to select the correct tray:

1. Let vDos (as before NTVDM did) send the printer data as-is to the printer with the RAW option. You then can’t use the scaling and positioning options, or print to a printer that doesn’t support PCL.

2. Create a copy of the printer driver and set the default output to the other tray. Then assign LPT2 to this copy, and set Yellow to print to LPT2. If that is supported by the program of course. The alternative of using the Windows Printer Selection Dialog probably would be to cumbersome for the users.

Jos

[andersostling]

Dec 18, 2020 16:11:00 GMT 1 Jos said:

Before vDos starts the printing process, it creates two additional files: #LPT1.asc and #LPT1.txt (given you didn’t use the PRIVATE option). The #LPT1.asc file contains the ASCII data stream sent by the program. The command sequences for selecting the output tray are: 27 38 108 53 72 (tray 3), 27 38 108 49 72 (tray 2).

You basically have two options to select the correct tray:

1. Let vDos (as before NTVDM did) send the printer data as-is to the printer with the RAW option. You then can’t use the scaling and positioning options, or print to a printer that doesn’t support PCL.

2. Create a copy of the printer driver and set the default output to the other tray. Then assign LPT2 to this copy, and set Yellow to print to LPT2. If that is supported by the program of course. The alternative of using the Windows Printer Selection Dialog probably would be to cumbersome for the users.

Jos

Thanks Jos! I will do a test with option 1 on Monday at the client site. I had some issues with margins (top and left) that I could fix by using the HORZ and VERT arguments. Does RAW implies that I cant use them anymore?
Regarding the control codes you mention, would it be worth trying to add these in the control files?
I will also capture the output files and have a close look at them in a hex editor.

Best regards

[Jos]

RAW indeed prevents you from using HORZ and VERT. Though that won’t be an issue, the output should be exactly the same as with NTVDM.

The control codes for selecting the tray are already in the print definitions for White and Yellow. First line, last 5 characters.

The default values (15 mm left, 10 right, 10 top and 15 bottom) of the margins in the vDos print processor don’t match those of the printer. So one often has to use HORZ and VERT.
We Europeans were essentially always crippled by mainly the characters per inch constrains of printer control codes. 10 cpi doesn’t leave much of a margin, 12 cpi too much with for instance A4 paper and 80 character wide lines. Defaulting those margins to different (metric) values would notify users more can be done with positioning and scaling the printout w/o changing anything to the program.

Jos